Insanity
by tashy-lou
Summary: A young girl walks through a ruined city. A year ago this city was destroyed. Nobody knows how or why this happened, but it's her job to find out.
1. Prologue-Cars With No Drivers

A young girl walks down the cracked pavement, she looks both ways before crossing the street. This action is more out of habit than anything else, not for lack of cars, there are still plenty of them around, but for lack of people to drive them. The city is empty, this place is dead, everybody left in the emergency evacuation. Well, almost everybody, the few that remained were either insane, criminals or both. She couldn't believe this had happened, just a year ago she had come here. This place used to be beautiful, the parks, the houses, even the pizza parlour, now it was nothing but crumbling ruins. The girl walks towards the docks and looks out at the glittering blue ocean, sadness fills her as she looks across at the small island, on it a crumbling tower. Tears come to her eyes as she looks out at what used to be a beacon of hope in a cruel world. Where had the city's dedicated heroes been when this had happened and why hadn't they stopped it?


	2. Chapter 1-It's Dark at Night

It's night time in Jump City. All the criminals and crazy people come out at night. It's not a good idea to be wandering around this city at night, unless, of course, you're one of them.  
A solitary figure walks what is left of the rooftops. He is an old man, old, but definitely not weak. It is strange, the city has been destroyed, the heroes have been defeated, the man should be satisfied and yet he feels strangely empty. The man looks across at the remains of the tower with his one good eye, perhaps this emptiness is due to the fact that he was not the one responsible for the fall of Jump City. The man sighed behind his mask, he did not need thus mask, not anymore, he didn't know why he still chose to wear it, what was the point in hiding your identity when there wasn't anybody to hide it from. The man closed his one good eye as he remembered the children that his life had centered around for years, the children that had regularly got in the way and foiled his plans. The children who had worked for years trying to put him behind bars. Things should be so much easier without them around. The man couldn't help but think about them, about what had happened to them. It was a truly terrible thing and the worst part? Those children were no older than his own son.  
The masked man stood on the roof top surveying his surroundings when something caught his eye, a young girl, no more than about eleven or twelve. He didn't recognise her, this was strange, no one new ever came to Jump City, not since what had happened, but this girl was new, he'd never seen her before and no one who knew anything about the city would go wondering about the city at night, especially not in his territory, it was too dangerous. The man looked down at the young girl curiously. She had no clear aim, she was just wondering around. The girl looked tired, perhaps she was looking for somewhere safe to sleep, not that anywhere in Jump was safe, no, there were criminals everywhere, criminals who would slit a little girls throat because they were bored. Luckily for this particular child he was not one of these criminals. Perhaps he would kill her eventually, but for now he was interested, he wanted to see what she would do; a little girl lost and alone in a city full of criminals. She wouldn't last long.

It was very dark here at night, of course it was dark, everywhere was dark at night, but this place was darker and this darkness was different, more threatening, than the darkness she was used to. Of course the lack of working street lamps wasn't helping much. The girl yawned. It was getting very late now, she needed to find somewhere safe to sleep, though that wasn't very likely, not here, here there were criminals lurking round every corner, just waiting to pounce, she needed somewhere to sleep. The girl wandered around for a little while before coming across a sheltered doorway, she curled up on the tattered welcome mat that lay in front of the door. The girl wasn't afraid of the dark, she wasn't afraid of most things, which was a good thing in a city full of psychopaths. Though then again, in a city full of psychopaths perhaps she should be afraid, any sensible person would be, good thing she wasn't sensible either then. The girl closed her eyes. Yes she definitely wasn't sensible, no sensible person would wander around a city alone at night, no sensible person would choose to sleep in a doorway, no sensible person would come to Jump City in the first place, but she needed to know, she needed to know what had happened here, what had happened to this city, what had happened to it's protectors, what had happened to her friends. Tears came to the child's eyes as she thought of all the people whom she cared about, all the people who had lived here and all the people she had left behind.


	3. Chapter 2-Fly Over Shattered Glass

The old man watches the little girl in the doorway, unaware that he himself is also being watched. A young man stands in the shadows, ready to jump in and stop him if the man tries to do anything to harm the little girl. He isn't sure what the child is doing here, he had specifically told them that nobody should come here anymore, especially after the last time. He wonders when the old man had gotten so slow, normally he would have noticed him immediately, but now he doesn't realise he's there, perhaps it is because the old man, and everybody else for that matter, thinks that he is dead. He closes his eyes as he thinks of the people he once cared about, the people he had lost, the people who were his friends, his family. He had failed them, he had failed everyone, he could have, no, should have stopped this, he should have saved them, but he hadn't and he hates himself for it, every waking moment he thinks about what had happened and how he should have been there and every night he has nightmares about it. A silent tear rolls out from under his mask and down his cheek. He just wishes there was some way to undo what had happened, but there isn't.

The girl wakes to the sound of screaming. She can't tell where it's coming from, but clearly somebody needs help and she's the only person left who can help them. The girl stands and listens harder, trying to pinpoint the direction of this horrible sound. She turns around, it sounds as if it's coming from by the docks. The girl looks around once more before running off towards the docks in the direction of the sound. She runs at top speed, but doesn't notice the masked man following her from the rooftops. The man easily keeps up with her pace, despite having to jump from rooftop to rooftop and the fact that these buildings are so unstable they could collapse under him at any second. It is still early, the sun has not yet risen, the man is glad of that, it is harder to see him in the dark, the darkness is comforting to him, he is a creature of the night after all. The screaming grows louder as the girl approaches the docks, but still she cannot tell exactly where the sound is coming from. The girl reaches the waterfront and looks around, she tries to figure out where the screaming is coming from, she needs to get there, she has to help. Then as quickly as it started the screaming stops. Silence. It feels strange to the girl after waking to such an awful noise. She can hear her heart beating in her chest, she can hear her long deep breaths worn out from running, and she can hear someone else's. She hears a heavy breathing coming from behind her. Could this be one of the city's infamous psychopaths about to murder her? She whips around, her fists raised, preparing to fight off any danger that could be lurking in the shadows behind her and sees nothing. She looks around, but there is nobody there. She drops her fists and turns away. She is safe, for the time being. In the darkness of the deepest shadows, a masked man gives a sigh of relief, that was close, too close, she had almost seen him. Slowly he leaves his hiding place and looks around for the girl, but she is nowhere to be seen. He sighs before turning away and heading back to his normal nightly activities. As the two talk away from each other the sun begins to rise over jump city. The sky turns pink and orange and sparkling reflections glisten over the clear blue water. The promise of a new day and a new start, for most anyway. The sunrise always was the most wonderful time of day.


	4. Chapter 3-Insanity is Catching

Insanity is Catching

The girl walked and walked for hours down the dark and dangerous streets of Jump City, it was the middle of the day, or possibly the afternoon, she wasn't quite sure. She kept walking anyway, there wasn't anything else to do. She should be investigating, trying to figure out what had happened here, but she didn't know where to start, this was such a big city and as far as she was aware, nobody knew what had happened here, well that wasn't quite true, there was one person that she knew of, maybe nobody alive was a better term, after all Robin had been presumed dead for almost a year now. No one cared much after they'd found out though, many people saw what had happened as his fault. She'd been told that he had gone to sort some things out in another city and by the time he'd got back it was too late. He managed to evacuate most of the city and contacted the Justice League to tell them not to let anybody else come into Jump, but that was the last anyone had heard from him and that was almost a year ago. Now she wandered that same city, trying to find out what had happened to him and the entire city. After a while the road opened up into an open space and the girl realised that she was back at the docks, she'd been walking in a circle this whole time. Some detective she was, how was she supposed to find out what happened here if she couldn't even walk in a straight line. She sat down on the edge of the waterfront, resting her head in her hands and looking out at Titans Tower.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there for when he appeared. She looked up at the large figure looming over her. She recognised his face, or rather his mask, from the list of criminals who were still in Jump City. She backed away slowly, her eyes wide with fear as the man looked down at her. Then her expression of fear disappeared and was replaced with a determined glare., this man had nothing to gain from killing her and he might even no something that might be useful to her.

Her eyes were filled with determination, but her voice still came out barely a whisper. "What happened here?"

The man looked a little taken aback by the question, but only for a moment, now she could almost feel the knowing smile as he watched her. She couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by this man, but she tried her best to keep her cool despite this.

The man nodded before finally responding to her question, "You know of the Teen Titans?"

she nodded, of course she did, who in this awful city didn't know of its former protectors.

"Good," he continued, his voice cold as ice, "So you know of there powers then, in particular...of Raven's?"

Again the girl nodded, she'd done her research and knew enough of the Teen titans and there powers that she might as well have known them herself.

"It seems you do not fully understand the extent of Raven's powers." The girl just glared at him, unsure of what he meant.

"Then let me explain." She couldn't see his face, but the girl could tell that he was smirking behind his mask. "I'm sure you've heard of the term empathy", he continued. The girl didn't answer, she just stared at him, knowing that he would tell her soon enough. "Well, Raven is an empath, she can literally feel other people's emotions. It seems that this works both ways."

The girl looked up at him, she did not get was he was implying. He could see the confusion in her face. ""When she he feels sadness, the people around her feel sadness also, when she feels angry, they feel anger, when she feels love, they will too," the masked man elaborated, "and if say she felt insanity..."

The man paused. The girl stared up at him, as realisation dawned on her. "Let's just say that if you set foot inside that tower, you won't have your sanity much longer."

The girl stood up and backed away from him, "No", she spoke, but it was hardly a whisper.

The young man stood in the shadows a little away from the girl who was now talking to the old man he knew much too well. Unfortunately he was too far away to hear what they were saying. He was going to interfere earlier, but then they started talking, he kept on his guard, but nothing had change. They continued to just talk. Them the man turned to walk away, leaving the scared little girl gaping as he walked down a nearby alleyway. The young man followed him, planning to cut him off and find out what he said to her. He jumped down from the rooftop and into the alley, hoping to take the other man by surprise, only to be met by a punch to the stomach which knocked the wind out of him, causing him to fall to the floor. The man he had just attempted to attack stood over him shaking his head.

"I was wondering when you'd come out of hiding again, boy." The man's voice was cold as steel, just as he had remembered, he couldn't believe he knew, actually he could, the man always seemed to know everything, but why hadn't he done anything sooner, he was probably waiting for him to make the first move and it had worked, he was now at his mercy. He tried to stand only to have a heavy boot placed on his chest holding him down. He closed his eyes trying to get his breathing back, he really didn't need this right now, not when that little girl could be being murdered as he lay here wasting time.

"What did you say to her?" he snarled, glaring up at the man.

"The man removed his foot and took a few steps back, allowing him to stand. "She simply asked me what had happened to our lovely city and I explained it to her, nothing more." He took in a deep breath and nodded, just glad that the man hadn't done or said anything to hurt the girl. He slowly turned and began to leave to go back and see if the girl was okay. "Of course, if the girl were to decide to investigate further and maybe even enter the tower..."

He stopped and turned to glare at the man, he shouldn't be surprise by now, but what if he was right? There was no way he could stop the girl if she did decide to go in there and the last time someone had, they had never come out.


	5. Chapter 4-Point of View

A/N You can thank ShadowlightStarlight for the fact I'm updating so soon :-)

Point of View

She knew what she had to do now. The only way to find out the truth. The only way to fix what had happened. She had to go to the source of it all. The girl looked out over the ocean and took a deep breath, trying to relax herself. She knew now what she needed to do and where she needed to go. The last of the evening sun glinted off the large glass windows of Titans Tower. She just hoped she'd come back alive.

Nightwing watched as the girl pulled a small row boat up the bank of the island that surrounded Titans Tower. This felt like a funeral. She was going to go into the tower and she _was_ going to die. There was nothing he could do, he was completely helpless to stop her, now that she'd landed on the island, now that she had pried open the emergency exit, now that she was going into the tower, it was too late to save her. She might as well be dead already.

"Are you going in after her?" A deep, steely voice behind him made Nightwing's blood run cold. He tried not to show any emotion as he turned around to face Slade.

"If I have to."

The man paused for a second as he smirked, Nightwing couldn't see it because of the mask, but he knew the man was smirking. The man gave a small chuckle before continuing. His voice was icy cold. "You know that if you go in there you won't make it out alive." Nightwing hated to admit it, but Slade was right. If he did go in there, the chances he'd come out again were a lot less than slim, but it looked like he had no choice. Nightwing gave a small nod in reply to the man before turning and jumping off the roof to head to Titans Tower, he just hoped it wouldn't be the last place he'd go.

I walked down the dark corridor, the light from my torch my only friend as I wandered towards an unknown danger. Out of no where I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Ordinarily I would just brush it off as nothing, but in this case I knew better. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do. For now at least.

I walked on through the daunting hallway, the light form my torch casting eerie shadows on the walls around me. I could feel it's eyes burning into the back of my skull. I was not alone, it was watching my every move, but I couldn't let it know I'd seen it. I couldn't let it know that I knew it was there, if I did it might attack and if that happened I knew I wouldn't make it out of this alive. As I walked I became more and more uncomfortable, I couldn't stand having this thing right behind me, studying me, watching my every move. I didn't even know what it was. I decided to take a chance. Slowly I turned my head, keeping my eyes on the floor, hoping it wouldn't notice. It did. I heard a low growl from the ceiling above me. I looked up and my eyes met those of a ferocious creature I couldn't name. I let out a scream as it pounced on me. I was cut off as it pushed me to the floor and ripped open my chest and throat. I never could tell what it was, all I knew was it was big and fast, not a god combination for something that's trying to kill you, well not from your point of view anyway. My head fell limply to the side as I flt the darkness take over.

Nightwing kept to the shadows inside the tower, it had been so long he wasn't sure what he'd find here any longer, he made sure to be careful and hide after all he didn't want the girl to see him and get scared.

'Hiding in the shadows? Who are you really hiding from? That girl or yourself?'

Nightwing looked around for the source of the voice, but he was alone. He took a deep breath and continued down the dark corridor. He stopped when he heard something farther down this hallway, just round the corner,. It had sounded like a scream, a short one, like someone had been cut off mid scream. Nightwing ran round the corner, only to find that he was too late. The girl's body lay on the floor ripped apart and covered in blood. Nightwing slowly bent down to pick her up, the least he could do was get her body out of this place, see if he could find out who she was, find her family and return her to them. He walked down the corridor, the girl's bloody body in his arms. The shadows moved and jumped, he felt uneasy, like they were closing in on him. He closed his eyes feeling dizzy. He sat down and his eyes began to close, he tried to fight it, but soon the darkness of sleep began to take over him.

When he awoke he was sitting on the floor of the dark corridor, in his lap was a bloody corpse of a young girl he didn't know. He slowly got to his feet, cradling the body in his arms. He walked down the corridor, until he suddenly thought of something. Where was he going? He stopped and looked around him, but all he saw was darkness. Darkness, him and the girl, that's all that there was now. He continued walking, he didn't know where he was going or why, but did that really matter? No, not really.

This is the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue.


	6. Epilogue-Last Transmission

Last Transmission

One year earlier

Batman sat in the leather seat in front of the super computer he'd dubbed the bat-computer in the cave under Wayne Manor. Sometimes he missed his ward, it was a lot quieter around here since he'd moved to Jump City, he wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing. He closed his eyes, at least Robin seemed to be happier now, he had new friends, a new life, and it was Robin's happiness that mattered here...he just wished the boy would call once in a while. Just then, as if reading his mind the bat-computer announced an incoming transmission from Jump city. Batman immediately sat up and let the call through. He stared at the screen as his ward appeared and he could immediately tell something was wrong. It might have been his heavy breathing, or the cut on his forehead which caused blood to run down his face, or the rubble in the background of the screen, or that the boy he'd come to think of as a son looked truly terrified. It might have been all of these things or it might have been none of them, it didn't matter now, all that mattered was "Robin, what happened?"

The boy took a deep breath before answering, "Batman, I'm sorry," the boy's voice shook with fear, "I should have been there, it's all might fault."

The boy looked like he was on the edge of tears, but Batman was frustrated, what was going on? "Robin, just tell me what's going on, I can come and help you-"

"No!"The boy's sudden outburst shocked the Bat into silence. "No," the boy said again, slightly calmer now, "I've messed up, it's too late, I'm trying to get as many people out as I can, but I need you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Promise me that you won't let anybody come back to Jump City, not even you, not now, not ever."

"Robin, I-"

"Please, just promise?!"

Batman nodded in defeat, he didn't know what had happened, but considering what Dick had just made him promise, it must be really bad.

"Thank you, Batman, I just want you to know that I-"

At that moment static filled the screen and Batman's son's voice was replaced by an ear-splitting scream. Then the screen went black and there was only silence throughout the cave. Batman didn't move, he couldn't believe what had just happened, but he knew that that was the last transmission he would be receiving from Jump City. Robin was gone.

A/N Finally finished, so what did you think? Please review.

There's a poll on my profile for what I should writhe next, please go vote, thanks for reading :-)


End file.
